F 
845 

.3 
52>I8 


SUTRO 


CALIFORNIA  MONOPOLISTS  AGAINST 
THE  SUTRO  TUNNEL 


fcAuoion- 

UNftlY 


BANCROFT 
LIBRARY 

o 

THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2007  with  funding  from 

Microsoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/californiamonopoOOsutrrich 


THE  CALIFORNIA  MONOPOLISTS 

-"^^  AGAINST  Til  B 

SUTRO  TUNNEL. 


$200,000  RAISED  FOR  CORRUPT  PURPOSES. 


THE    PRESS    TO    BE    DEBAUCHED. 


CONTEMPLATED  ATTEMPT   TO    SELL   THE   HONOft 
AND  GOOD  FAITH  OF  THE  AMERICAN  PEOPLE. 


When  about  to  perpetrate  an  iniquity,  the  California 
Bank  ring  has  made  it  an  invariable  rule  to  first  hire  the 
venal  press,  and  commence  a  general  outcry  of  u  Stop 
thief!  " 

This  is  the  course  which  has  just  been  adopted  after  it 
was  decided  to  make  another  onslaught  on  the  vested 
rights  of  the  Sutro  Tunnel ;  this  time  backed  up  by  a  sub- 
scription of  $200,000  in  gold  coin,  as  will  appear  from  the 
sworn  copy  of  an  agreement  entered  into  by  a  number  of 
the  mining  companies  in  the  Comstock  Lode,  hereto  an- 
nexed. 

The  first  step  taken  was  to  buy  up  the  Virginia  City  and 
Gold  Hill  papers,  which,  towards  the  end  of  January  last, 
immediately  after  the  date  of  the  annexed  agreement,  com- 
menced a  perfect  tirade  against  the  Sutro  Tunnel,  in  order 
to  prepare  the  public  mind  somewhat  for  what  was  to  come. 

Since  that  time  it  has  been  the  common  topic  of  conver- 
sation on  the  Pacific  coast,  that  the  California  Bank  ring, 
at  this  session  of  Congress,  would  make  another  desperate 
attempt  to  repeal  the  vested  rights  of  the  Sutro  Tunnel 
Company,  for  it  had  evidently  been  determined  upon  to 
bring  about  that  result,  if  the  power  of  money,  brought  to 
bear  by  a  combination  of  the  great  monopolies  and  corpora- 


Vnte 


tions  on  the  Pacific  coast,  could  be  made  to  accomplish 
such  a  result. 

Below  will  be  found  copy  of  an  agreement  sworn  to  by  a 
resident  of  San  Francisco,  well  known  and  of  the  highest 
respectability,  from  which  it  appears  that  $200,000  have 
been  raised  by  the  mining  companies  on  the  Comstock 
Lode  to  litigate  the  claim  of  two  dollars  per  ton  on  the  ore 
raised  from  the  Comstock  Lode,  said  to  be  preferred  by 
the  Sutro  Tunnel  Company. 

This  agreement  bears  on  the  face  of  it  that  it  is  intended 
for  corrupt  purposes,  for — 

J.  Two  hundred  thousand  dollars  are  not  required  for 
litigating  a  suit  in  the  law  courts  of  Nevada. 

2.  No  litigation  can  possibly  be  commenced,  for  no 
claim  whatever  has  as  yet  been  presented  by  the  Sutro 
Tunnel  Company,  nor  will  there  be  any  for  several  years 
to  come,  and  not  until  the  Tunnel  shall  have  been  pene- 
trated three  miles  of  solid  rock  additional  to  what  is  done, 
in  order  to  reach  the  Comstock  Lode. 

3.  The  examination  of  the  names  of  the  persons  selected 
as  trustees  to  manage  this  litigating  fund  shows  conclu- 
sively that  the  mining  companies  are  used  as  a  mere  blind, 
for  these  live  persons  represent  the  live  great  monopolies, 
who  are  determined  to  break  up  the  Sutro  Tunnel  at  all 
hazards: 

1.  Mr.  J.  C.  Flood  represents  the  Virginia  City  Water 
Company,  in  which  his  firm  are  the  principal  owners. 

2.  Mr.  R.  F.  Morrow  represents  the  stockjobbing  min- 
ing ring,  whose  manipulations  are  mainly  carried  on  by  the 
California  Bank  ring. 

3.  Mr.  J.  D.  Fry,  a  relative  of  Mr.  Ralston,  the  president 
of  the  Bank  of  California,  represents  that  institution. 

4th.  Mr.  Benjamin  Peart  represents  one  of  the  Nevada 
mill  rings;  and 

5th.  Mr.  I.  L.  Requa  represents  the  Virginia  and 
Truckee  Railroad  Company  and  the  Union  Mill  and  Min- 
ing Company,  both  owned  by  the  managers  of  the  Bank 
of  California. 


3 


With  these  brief  remarks  the  agreement  itself  is  hereby 
submitted  for  perusal. 

Adolph  Sutro, 
General  Superintendent. 
Washington,  March  19,  1874. 


San  Francisco,  January  12, 1874. 

Meeting  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  Ophir  Gold  and  Silver 
Mining  Company. 

Present :  Messrs.  Grayson,  Loean,  Hall,  Hassey,  Lissack, 
and  Peart. 

The  President  presented  the  following  report,  viz : 

It  is  hereby  agreed  by  the  undersigned,  Mining  Compan- 
ies owning  mines  upon  the  Comstock  Lode,  in  .Storey 
county,  State  of  Nevada,  that  they  will,  and  hereby  do, 
jointly  employ  R.  S.  Messick,  of  Virginia  City,  and  C.  J. 
Hillyer,  of  Washington,  as  their  attorneys  at  law,  to  insti- 
tute and  carry  to  a  final  decision,  under  the  direction  of 
the  committee  hereinafter  provided  for,  such  legal  proceed- 
ings as  may  be  necessary  to  secure  a  onal  judgment  deny- 
ing the  validity  and  estopping  the  enforcement  of  the  claim 
wrongfully  preferred  by  the  Sutro  Tunnel  Company,  to  a 
royalty  of  two  dollars  per  ton  upon  the  ore  raised  from  the 
mines  of  said  companies,  or  any  claim  upon  the  part  of 
said  Tunnel  Company  to  charge  said  mines  in  any  manner 
other  than  in  accordance  with  the  terms  and  stipulations 
of  contract  made  or  to  be  made  between  it  and  the  Min- 
ing Companies  respectively. 

J.  C.  Flood,  R.  T.  Morrow,  J.  D.  Fry,  Benjamin  Peart, 
and  J.  L.  Requa  are  hereby  appointed  a  committee  to  man- 
age said  litigation,  and  from  the  fund  hereinafter  provided 
for  to  defray  the  expenses  of  the  same,  including  the  fees 
of  said  attorneys,  and  of  such  other  attorneys  as,  upon  the 
approval  of  said  Messick  and  Hillyer,  the  committee  may 
deem  it  advisable  to  employ. 


The  first  meeting  of  said  committee  shall  be  held  npon 
a  call  by  a  majority  of  its  members,  and  it  shall  oiganize 
by  the  election  from  its  members  of  a  president  and  a 
treasurer,  and  by  the  appointment  of  a  secretary.  All  sub- 
sequent meetings  shall  be  held  upon  an  order  by  the  pre- 
sident or  by  a  majority  of  the  committee.  The  committee 
shall  have  power  to  fill  vacancies  occurring  in  its  own 
membership,  and  a  majority  of  the  committee  shall  consti- 
tute a  quorum  for  the  transaction  of  all  business. 

For  the  purpose  of  defraying  the  expenses  of  said  litiga- 
tion, the  said  committee  are  hereby  empowered  to  levy  by 
resolution  assessments  from  time  to  time,  as  may  by  it  be 
deemed  necessary,  upon  each  of  the  undersigned  compa- 
nies, provided  that  each  assessment  shall  be  levied  upon  all 
the  companies  at  the  same  time,  and  provided,  further,  that 
the  total  amount  of  all  the  assessments  levied  shall  not  ex- 
ceed for  each  of  said  companies,  respectively,  the  amount 
herein  set  opposite  the  name  of  said  companies,  to  wit : 

Name.    -  Amount. 

Alpha  Consolidated $1,200  00 

Bacon  Mill  and  Mining  Company 80  00 

Best  and  Belcher 2,188  00 

Belcher  Silver  Mining  Company 43,680  00 

Bullion . 2,500  00 

Caledonia 2,000  00 

Central 1,080  00 

Chollar  Potosi  Mining  Company 7,000  00 

Confidence  Silver  Mining  Company 1,000  00 

Consolidated  Virginia- -1 39,960  00 

Consolidated  Gold  Hill  Quartz  Mill  and  Mining 

Company 213  00 

Crown   Point 48,000  00 

Empire  Mill  and  Mining  Company 250  00 

Exchequer 800  00 

Gould  and  Curry 4,500  00 

Hale  and  Korcross 3,600  00 

Imperial  Silver  Mining  Company .2,500  00 


0 


Name.  Amount. 

Eentuck i~  2,250  00 

Ophir  Silver  Mining  Company 8,316  00 

Overman  Silver  Mining  Company 9,600  00 

Savage  Mining  Company 5,680  00 

Segregated  Belcher  Mining  Company 2,500  00 

Sierra  Nevada  Mining  Company. 2,000  00 

Yellow  Jacket  Mining  Company 7,683  00 

Challenge  Consolidated  Mining  Company 750  00 

Eclipse,  Winter,  and  Plato  Consolidated  Min- 
ing Company 750  00 

Central 1,500  00 

French  Gold  Hill  Mining  Company 


$201,580  00 

And  provided  further \  That  the  assessments  shall  only  be 
levied  at  such  times  and  in  such  amounts  as  shall  be  needed 
to  defray  the  legitimate  expenses  of  such  litigation,  and 
that  the  aggregate  amount  of  each  assessment  shall  be  ap- 
portioned between  the  said  companies  substantially  (omit- 
ting small  fractions)  in  the  proportion  of  the  amounts 
above  placed  opposite  the  names  of  the  companies. 

Each  of  the  undersigned  companies  agrees  to  pay  to  the 
treasurer  of  said  committee  the  amount  of  each  assessment 
levied  upon  it  as  above  provided  within  thirty  days  from 
the  time  of  receiving  from  the  secretary  of  said  committee 
written  notice  of  the  levying  of  said  assessment. 

Each  of  the  said  companies  further  agrees  to  permit  the 
use  of  its  name  as  plaintiff  in  any  suit  or  legal  proceeding 
which  said  committee  shall  deem  it  advisable  to  commence 
for  effecting  the  purpose  above  stated,  and  that  its  name 
shall  not  be  withdrawn  without  the  consent  of  said  com- 
mittee, provided  that  the  entire  expenses  of  such  suit  or 
proceedings  shall  be  paid  by  said  committee  from  the  fund 
above  provided  for,  and  that  the  committee  shall  have  the 
entire  direction  and  management  of  the  same. 

On  motion  of  Hassey,  seconded  by  Grayson,  it  was  unan- 
imously 


Resolved,  That  the  president  and  secretary  of  this  com- 
pany be,  and  they  are  hereby,  authorized  and  directed  to 
make  and  execute,  in  the  name  of  this  company,  a  contract 
or  agreement  in  accordance  with  the  foregoing  instrument, 
binding  this  company,  in  connection  with  other  companies 
on  the  Comstock  Lode,  to  litigate  the  claim  of  the  Sutro 
Tunnel  Company  to  collect  a  royalty  upon  ores  raised  from 
mines  of  said  companies  on  said  Comstock  Lode. 

(Signed)  Jos.  Marks, 

Secretary. 


State  of  California,  ) 

City  and  County  of  San  Francisco.  J 

Before  me,  F.  J.  Thibault,  a  notary  public  of  the  State 
of  California,  in  and  for  the  city  and  county  of  San  Fran- 
cisco, duly  commissioned  and  sworn,  personally  appeared 
Joseph  Aron,  who,  being  duly  sworn,  deposes  and  says : 
That  he  is  a  stockholder  in  the  Ophir  Gold  and  Silver 
Mining  Company,  a  corporation  having  its  place  of  busi- 
ness in  the  city  of  San  Francisco,  State  of  California;  that 
he  has  examined  the  record-book  of  the  said  Ophir  Gold 
and  Silver  Mining  Company;  and  that  the  foregoing  is  a 
true  copy  of  the  minutes  of  a  meeting  of  the  Board  of 
Trustees  of  said  company,  held  at  the  office  of  said  com- 
pany in  the  city  of  San  Francisco,  State  of  California,  on 
the  twelfth  (12th)  day  of  January,  1874,  as  it  appears  in 
and  is  entered  upon  said  record-book. 

Joseph  Aron. 

Subscribed  and  sworn  to  before  me  this  eleventh  day  of 
February,  1874. 

Tseaj  -,  P.  J.  Thibault, 

L         *J  Notary  Public. 


i 


